Insomnia and Sleep Paralysis in Athletes
Introduction:
Student athletes face the challenge of balancing school and sports into only 24 hours each day, and that comes with one task that’s most commonly pushed aside: sleep. Many athletes are susceptible to skipping a few hours of sleep each week to make room for an extra private, a big game, or even just to finish their homework. What they don’t know, however, is that an erratic sleep schedule can lead to further complications in sleep patterns and behaviors.
A recent study from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that student athletes are more prone to insomnia and sleep paralysis than their non-athletic counterparts. In this article, we will dive into what insomnia and sleep paralysis are, their symptoms, and how we can treat our athletes to improve their health.
What is Insomnia?:
Insomnia is a sleep disorder that causes patients to struggle falling asleep, staying asleep, or achieving quality sleep. Long-term insomnia (symptoms occurring 3+ times per week) is commonly a result of a patient's environment: stress, poor sleep habits, overwhelmed schedules, and mental health disorders can all play a role in causing insomnia.
Athletes are likely to experience some form of insomnia due to the high levels of stress that being in the sports world has. Early morning practices, long traveling time to competitions, and high expectations are among the several burdens that they bear during their athletic tenure.
Symptoms of Insomnia:
Symptoms can vary across patients, however the most common are listed below:
Lying awake for extended periods of time
Poor-quality sleep
Waking up too early
Struggling to fall back asleep
Feeling tired/cranky/anxious during the day
Having a hard time remembering or paying attention
With athletes, these symptoms can be incredibly harmful to their performance. Impairments to attitude can cause them to not coordinate well in a team, and attention deficits could be the reason they miss an important catch.
Treatment for Insomnia:
In non-athletic cases, the main course of action is to create a safe sleep environment for the patient. This includes keeping the room at a cool temperature and not having any screens present. Also, important healthy habits should be enforced to limit external stimuli from impacting the state of sleep. Alcohol, nicotine, and late-night snacks are heavily discouraged due to their effects on sleep.
Athletes, however, have a bit more trouble since many of them have already developed these healthy habits. Most of them don’t drink or smoke because it damages their athletic performance, but they tend to also keep a decent sleep space. So what are the treatment options for athletes if the standard isn’t working?
Education
By educating both athletes and coaches, some studies found an improvement in the ability of athletes to have a consistent sleep schedule. If informed teams create a healthier schedule, it would surely eliminate a common cause.
Nap Opportunities
Sometimes there simply are not enough hours in the day. Athletes could benefit from taking naps during the day to counteract the hour or two they lose in the night. This allows them to take an early stand against insomnia and lessen the effects of sleep deprivation.
What is Sleep Paralysis?:
Sleep paralysis is linked to insomnia, as both conditions are spurred on by sleep habits. It is the condition of regaining consciousness during REM sleep but still maintaining muscle atonia. In other words, the patient is awake and able to perceive everything, yet they are unable to move or react. Many patients will experience hallucinations during this period, resulting in heightened anxiety and fear.
Again, athletes are more likely to experience sleep disorders due to the chaotic nature of their lifestyles. Research struggles to find a single, concrete cause of sleep paralysis, but poor sleep quality and genetics seem to have the greatest impact; thus, it is imperative that athletes maintain a consistent, healthy sleep schedule to prevent sleep paralysis.
Symptoms of Sleep Paralysis:
Common symptoms of sleep paralysis occur in the episode itself, yet sometimes a symptom can manifest in the daytime as well:
Hallucinations
Sleepiness
Inability to speak or move
Feeling of suffocation or pressure in one’s chest
Hypervigilance
Higher correlation to depression and anxiety
Treatment of Sleep Paralysis:
The main treatment plan is implementing an effective sleep schedule with a strict timeline to allow the patient's body to be fully rested each day. In extreme cases, medication can be used to prevent REM sleep (where paralysis occurs).
Athletes shouldn’t just focus on their schedules, but their stress levels too. The constant state of anxiety put onto athletes can have negative effects on their mindset and physical health; it is critical that they listen to their bodies and learn to be the healthiest version of themselves.
Conclusion:
Insomnia and sleep paralysis are two sleep disorders that commonly impact athletes. The stressful and inconsistent environment they live in renders their sleep schedule erratic. Treatments are straightforward. Educating athletes on how to sleep correctly allows them to thrive in their environment with sufficient rest. It’s absolutely crucial that we drive forward these healthy sleeping habits for athletes to prevent the detriments of insomnia and sleep paralysis. After all, we would much rather have the bed bug bite than the sleep paralysis demon lurk.
Sources:
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